The Giant of Doubt

"To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. To have faith means believing the impossible. To hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless." ~G.K. Chesterton

There is a story in the Gospel of Mark chapter 9 that I am particularly fond of. A man has a demon-possessed son. The demon often convulses the boy, and makes him throw himself into fire to burn himself or water to drown himself. The man tells Jesus that the boy has been this way since childhood, and says, "If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus replies, "If you can? Everything is possible to one who has faith." The boy's father cries out, "I do believe, help my unbelief!" Jesus then casts out the demon from the boy.

This story tells us much. Even people who lived in Jesus' time and knew He performed miracles had trouble believing in him, they still had reservations about faith. I often struggle with believing in the harder doctrines of the faith, mainly those concerning the Pope and Mary. However, I always realize that I am not understanding what is really being taught by the Church on a given matter, and that I haven't yet seen all the information and history concerning the topic. We all have moments of doubt, of unbelief. This man had Jesus Himself standing before him, and still needed help from Jesus to believe. I have found that Jesus longs to help us with our doubts. And so do Mary and the Saints. When we doubt, we should pray more and more, not less. The Devil wants us to give up. To give up on Jesus, on the Church, on ourselves. But God does not. God is the great gathering force, the builder of families, of His family, the Church. He wills that all people come to a full knowledge of the truth.

God loves us, and in the end, that is what matters most. If we maintain our relationship with Him here on earth for a few measly years, then we will reap an eternal reward in Heaven. Faith and Hope only need endure for this life. They will end one day, for our faith will be sight, and our hope fulfilled. But love, that never ends. Love is infinite, all-filling, and all-encompassing. Why? Because God is love. When we see through the lens of eternity, pushing through with faith for 80ish years dulls in comparison.

We should always remember that we are not alone in our walk of faith. We have God, Mary, the Saints, and all our brothers and sisters in the Church to help us. A big way to combat doubt is to count your blessings. And finally, just like this story from Mark, all necessary information to form a life lived in faith is in scripture (and also the lives of the saints).

As Hebrews 11:1 says, "Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen."

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